Free trade talks between China and Norway need to speed up

Norway is the world's largest producer - such as Marine Harvest, Salmar, Leroey, Norway Royal Salmon and Grieg Seafood.

Free trade talks between China and Norway should be sped up, the Chinese government's top diplomat told his Norwegian counterpart, as the two countries continue to step up efforts to put a row over the Nobel Peace Prize behind them.

Beijing froze ties with Oslo and suspended discussions on a bilateral freetrade deal immediately after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize to jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010. Liu died last year while still in Chinese custody.

"Both countries should earnestly respect each others' core interests and major concerns, and consolidate mutual trust so as to continuously develop the future for the bilateral relations," the statement cited Wang as saying.

"China and Norway advocate freetrade and both sides should accelerate negotiations for a freetrade agreement to safeguard the rules-based global freetrade system," he added, without elaborating.

China is in the midst of a trade war with the United States and has been looking for allies around the world, especially in Europe, even though many major European countries share U.S. concerns about market access and intellectual property rights.

A freetrade deal would benefit producers of farmed salmon - Norway is the world's largest producer - such as Marine Harvest, Salmar, Leroey, Norway Royal Salmon and Grieg Seafood.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)